This Just In: Best Dressed Newswomen

As of earlier this week, veteran anchor, author, and all-around icon Barbara Walters formalized plans to retire from her celebrated career in television. Next year Walters will no longer grace screens nationwide with her much-beloved presence and ever evolving wardrobe. From her young days of adorable 60s skirt suits to her later years of sleek necklines and trim blazers, this is one lady newscaster whose absence will be apparent.

As host of the daytime program America Live on Fox News, Megyn Kelly understands what it takes to attract an audience. “It’s a visual business,” the blonde bombshell said in a characteristically frank interview with GQ. “People want to see the anchor.” Her candid approach may be working in her favor. Kelly, who pairs classic, streamlined silhouettes with an expansive collection of stilettos, renewed her contract with the network earlier this month.

Multi-hyphenate Katie Couric doesn’t just break the news. She makes it. Since debuting on air in the early 80s, the Virginia native has hosted Today,helmed CBS Evening News as the first solo female anchor ever to command a nightly news broadcast, and conducted a game-changing series of interviews with former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008. But Couric’s line of questioning isn’t all that’s daring. These days, the daytime-talk-show host and special correspondent to ABC News displays a wardrobe of sleek black separates with vibrant, cinched-waist dresses, leather accents, and graphic prints.

It should come as no surprise that former pageant queen Diane Sawyer is as graceful as she is professional. The omnivorously curious anchor ofABC World News has interviewed such notable subjects as U.S. presidents George Bush and Barack Obama, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and … Britney Spears. Both on camera and off, Sawyer embodies her all-American aesthetic in trim trench coats, double-breasted suiting, and wisp-free blowouts.

Mika Brzezinski looks better at six a.m. than most of us can hope to look all day. As co-host of NBC’sMorning Joe, the expertly coiffed New York City native spends her mornings flirtily sparring with fellow co-host Joe Scarborough. You can find her dressed in body-con sheaths in vibrant pinks, bright blues, and charcoal grays.

A degree of shall-we-say enthusiasm is to be expected from morning-show hosts. Not one of her peers, however, exudes such genuine warmth asToday’s Savannah Guthrie. As co-anchor of the daytime program, the Arizona native experiments with cap-sleeved frocks and bold-hued shifts. After hours, she reaches for A-line gowns, draped dresses, and—on particularly adventurous occasions—sleek jumpsuits.

When a Google search of your name and the word “haircut” generates 70,400 results, you know you’ve hit the big time. As anchor of ABC’s 20/20,Elizabeth Vargas—and her chestnut-colored locks—enjoys just such a reality. Though a champion of the power suit, the working mother also favors bright cardigans, fitted blazers, and neutral shift dresses.

If journalists are indeed meant to blend in with their surroundings, Tamron Hall never got the memo. And we couldn’t be happier. As host of MSNBC’sNewsNation with Tamron Hall and frequent substitute for Today’s co-hosts, Hall eschews traditional suiting in favor of modern florals, textured knits, and updated wardrobe staples. In an interview with US Weekly, the definitive dresser extolled the virtues of the crisp, white button-down. “Cheap or expensive, it doesn’t matter,” Hall said. “A white shirt always looks elegant.”

As a correspondent and general-assignment reporter for CBS, Margaret Brennan has to be ready to drop everything for breaking news, as she did in 2011 when she reported live from Tahrir Square. Brennan is equally daring within the necessary limits of her professional wardrobe. The Irish American gravitates toward metallic prints, sharp-shouldered blazers, and silky tops in greens and blues.

It’s evidently not enough that Natalie Morales juggles motherhood alongside the demands of her lustrous gig as co-anchor of NBC’s Today. In her spare time, the Taiwan-born stunner is a devoted marathon runner and triathlete. When she’s not outfitted in workout gear, Morales relies on such staples as wrap dresses, fitted bodices, and unfussy separates. We can hardly keep up.

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The aesthetic of broadcast journalism has come a long way. No longer slaves to pancake makeup or dizzying pinstripes, these wee-morning anchors and nightly newscasters stay current in fitted sheaths, sumptuous jewel tones, and, yes, even the occasional pantsuit. We're comfortable saying this on the record: the news has never looked so good.